Radford Meadows is a
nature reserve of the
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, on the southern edge of
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
, in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, England. The reserve is a
floodplain situated between the
River Penk to the west, and the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywoo ...
.
Description
Access is only along the towpath of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal; the towpath is elevated, and provides views of the entire site.
["Radford Meadows"]
''Staffordshire Wildlife Trust''. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
The area of the reserve is . It is part of the
floodplain of the River Penk; it is important in absorbing excess water when there is high rainfall.
[
There are ]black poplar
''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea''Populus nigra''/ref>
...
s at the southern end of the reserve. The species is now rare in England, since there is less floodplain woodland. For several centuries, floodplains have been drained to provide more agricultural land.[
To retain floodwater at Radford Meadows, dams have been installed. Shallow pools have been created to create conditions suitable for waders and wildfowl. If the right habitat is maintained, birds such as lapwing and snipe may be encouraged to breed on the reserve, as they did up to the 1990s.][
]
See also
* Floodplain restoration
Floodplain restoration is the process of fully or partially restoring a river's floodplain to its original conditions before having been affected by the construction of levees (dikes) and the draining of wetlands and marshes.
The objectives of re ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Radford Meadows
at '' Birdguides''
Nature reserves in Staffordshire
Birdwatching sites in England
Wetlands of England